Disappearing In Plain Sight

Calla couldn’t believe what she was seeing out of her telescope. This couldn’t be right. She gasped and looked again. But, it was right. Right across from her building she saw a man tied up in a house gagged and blindfolded. He was alone in the room. The only furniture in the room was the chair he was tied up on and a small lamp on the floor.  There were open green curtains on the one window in the room. The man's hair was dripping wet and so was his face. He was wearing some old torn jeans and a very wet white tee shirt. Calla didn’t know how the man got that way but she did know that he needed help. 

She picked up her red cell phone and called 911. 

“Hello, 911 what’s your emergency?” A woman’s voice said on the other side of the phone.

“There is a man tied up in the house across the street from mine.” Calla said breathlessly.

“A man tied up? Do you have the address?” The woman asked.

“Yes, it’s 61 Center Street. The man looks like he needs help. He’s tied up and blindfolded in a room in the house.” Calla said.

“Do you know this man?” The woman asked.

“No, but he needs help. Send someone to help him.” Calla screamed.

“We’re sending officers now. Can you tell me what he looks like?” The woman asked.

Calla walked to the window and looked through the telescope but what she saw before was gone now. 

“Miss, are you there?” The operator asked her.

“Yes, but, something is strange.” Calla said.

“What is going on?” The operator asked.

“The house is gone.” Calla replied frantically.

“The house is gone?” The operator repeated what Calla said.

“Yes, it is gone. The man is gone and the house is gone.” Calla said.

“Miss, are you okay? Do you need any help?” The operator asked.

“No, maybe I made a mistake. Thank you for you time.” Calla hung up the phone.

Over the next several days Calla looked out of her window for a glimpse of the man or some indication that she had not seen things that day. But, every day was the same thing. The house was not the house. She called her best friend, Shama, hoping that she could make some sense out of the senseless. 

“What do you mean the house looks different.” Shama asked Calla.

“I mean the house just looks different. Like a whole new house. Like the old one vanished overnight but not overnight in a matter of minutes.” Calla tried to explain.

“Okay so you say that you saw a man tied up in a house one minute and the next minute he was gone and the house was different?” Shama asked.

“I know it sounds crazy and I know it makes no sense but that is exactly what happened. I was looking through my telescope and I saw a man in a house, in a room, tied up and blindfolded and when I went to call the cops he and the house was gone.” Calla said thinking to herself how crazy that sounds now that she repeated it again.

“Calla houses and people just don’t disappear into thin air. There must be some logical explanation.” Shama said.

“Believe me I know how this sounds but I am telling you the truth. This is what I saw.” Calla said.

“Okay, do me a favor. Go to the window and look through the telescope and tell me what you see now.” Shama ordered. 

Calla walked over to the window and did what her friend said. She looked through the telescope and she gasped again at what she saw.

“What’s going on Calla? What do you see? Is the man back?” Shama asked, holding her breath.

“No, now there is a different house over there. Like it is totally different.” Calla said.

“That’s it. I will be right over.” Shama said and hung up the phone.

Calla could not take her eyes away from the telescope or the house that wasn’t the house now. She jumped when she heard the doorbell ring and ran to open it. She didn’t even bother to look through the peephole. She flung the door open wide. Shama was standing there with a brown bag in her hand. 

“I thought we both could use a drink.” Sharma said as she handed the bag to Calla. 

“Scotch? Really Shama?” Calla said as she took the bottle out of the bag.

“Yes, I don’t know about you but after everything you said I need a double or triple or something. Now, tell me this again slowly.” Sharma asked as she poured herself a glass of scotch.

Calla repeated all the details of everything she had seen and by the time she was done she poured herself a small drink too.

“Well, there has to be a logical explanation for all of this. Houses changing, people disappearing and so on. I think I saw something similar on the crime shows I watch. Except the house didn’t change and the person didn’t live.” Shama said while sipping her drink.

“Shama, this is serious. How can a house change and a person disappear? We need to find out. We need to find out that explanation so that I know I am not losing it.” Calla said.

“Well, why don’t we go over there?” Shama suggested.

“I was thinking the same thing but didn’t want to go alone in case I needed back up.” Calla said she was a cop.

“Well, now that I am here you have me. And when did you start talking like a cop? You must have been watching too many police shows.” Shama laughed.

The two women put down their drinks and prepared to go to the house. Shama suggested that they wear all black like on TV. Calla said that they would look like burglars and be arrested on the spot so what they were wearing was fine. Both women had on blue jeans, gray tee shirts and black sneakers. It was a warm day so neither of them had on any jackets. Sharma suggested that they bring some kind of weapon with them just in case. Calla told her she was ridiculous and took nothing.

When the women got to the house Calla shook her head. 

“What’s wrong?” Shama whispered. 

“Look!” Calla answered.

“I’m looking. What am I looking for?” Shama asked.

“We need to go around the back.” Calla answered.

Shama’s eyes opened wide and she wrinkled her forehead lines and followed her friend around to the back of the house. They hadn’t gotten far before they heard something.

“That sounds like a huge angry dog.” Shama said a little too loudly.

“He does but don’t worry.” Calla said as she reached into the front pocket of her jeans.

“I don’t want to get eaten by a big dog. Can you imagine the headlines on the ten o’clock news. Two women, one gorgeous, were found eaten by a big angry dog while trespassing in the backyard of a neighbor’s house. My mama would be rolling over in her grave.” Shama said.

“Don’t worry. I have something to make him stop barking.” Calla tossed something from her pocket to the dog and the dog happily walked over and ate it.

“What was that? I hope that you didn’t give the dog something dangerous.” Shama asked.

“No, it won’t hurt him. It will just make him less aggressive so we can get past him and get into the backyard.” Calla explained.

“And where did you get something like that? Or do I want to know?” Shama asked.

“I got it from the vet. Remember when Willie was acting a fool last month? The vet gave me thee to calm him down. “  Calla said.

“Okay, as long as they won’t hurt the huge dog. You know I am not for hurting living things.” Shama said.

“Me either and you know that. Now, move it. We have to get to the backyard. Open the gate.” Calla said. 

“Do you happen to know how to pick locks? The gate is locked.” Shama said looking at Calla shaking her head. 

“As a matter of fact…” Calla’s voice trailed off and she reached into her other pocket and took out something that looked like tweezers. She put the tweezers in the lock and in a few seconds the lock was open.

“Girl, how did I not know that you are a lock picker? What other things don’t I know about you?” Shama asked walking through the now open gate. 

“Hush. Follow me.” Calla instructed her best friend.

The women walked through the gate and turned the corner in the backyard and both of them put their hands over their mouths when they saw it. 

“Do you see what I see?” Shama said.

“Of course.” Calla answered.

Before the women had time to process what they saw, a door slammed. When the women looked up there were looking into the eyes of a very tall man with a bald head wearing horn rimmed glasses. He had on a black suit and a red tie. The women backed up.

“So, you must be the woman who called 911 the other night.” The man said.

“No, you are mistaken.” Calla said boldly.

“No, I think that I am not mistaken. You were the ones. You saw something right? You saw a man in my house tied up right?” The man asked.

“Please don’t kill us.” Shama said.

“I have no intention of hurting either one of you.” The man said.

“You probably want to know what is going on and why the house looked different? Well, you already know why the house looks different.  You can see that. But, let me explain. Have a seat.” The man pointed to the patio chairs and motioned for the women to sit down. He sat across from them.

“Well, what you don’t know is that I am a filmmaker. I produce, direct, write and sometimes star in my own movies. What you saw when you looked out of your telescope that day was a scene from a movie I am making. The guy you saw is an actor and he is okay. No harm came to him. He was just playing a role, that's all. And now you know why the house looked completely different. You see when I bought the house a few years ago I had an idea. At the time I could not afford studio time and I was not well known so I decided to put two sides on my house. It would be like I was shooting a movie in a different location but really on another side of the same house. I also made the house rotate. So, when you saw it one day it was rotated to one side. They said where you saw the actor. The next time you saw the house I had rotated it to the other side to shoot a different scene.” The man explained.

“So, we saw two sides of the same house?” Calla asked.

“Yes, you did. So, now you know my little secret.” The man said as he stood up.

“The man was never in any danger and neither are you. I am sorry I never told you any of this before but I don’t really socialize much. I try to stay out of the public eye when I am making a movie.” The man continued.

“But, who are you?” Shama asked.

“Yes, who are you? You don’t look familiar to me.” Calla said.

The man stepped back and pulled a mask off of his face. The women almost jumped out of their seats when they saw his real face. 

“Now do you know?” The man asked.

“Oh my goodness! It’s you! “ Shama screamed.

“Yes, but, you can’t tell a soul that I live here.” The man said.

“We won’t. It is like you are hiding in plain sight.” Calla said.

“Exactly. Now, if you don’t mind. I would like to get back to work.” The man said.

“Can you believe that you live next door to a famous director?” Shama asked as the women walked back to Calla’s house.

“Who would have thought.” Calla said and closed the door to her own house.